Brandon Lloyd's unique personality helps explain his rap-music career, appearing in a straight-to-DVD zombie movie, working at a steel-supply company during last year's unforced sabbatical from the NFL and playing for six teams in his past eight seasons.

In his first tour with the 49ers, the team that drafted and later traded him, Lloyd developed a style-over-substance reputation and grated on teammates. In his last year in the NFL, 2012 with the Patriots, the Boston Globe reported the wide receiver's "erratic behavior in the locker room and on the practice field proved tiresome."

With that history in mind, his meeting-room behavior since he signed with the 49ers in April shouldn't come as a surprise. Lloyd, 33, has been talking to himself during video sessions and pretending to run his routes while seated. That is, he'll see himself on the screen facing a defensive back and put on a swim move, or give the nonexistent cornerback a jab step - in his chair. He'll sometimes stand up in his effort to beat the, um, coverage.

"Talk about full-speed mentally and 100 percent engaged in the meeting," Harbaugh said. "I mean, I've never seen a guy at any level go through a meeting like that. And it just makes me giggle and giddy to watch him do it. Wish I had seen that earlier in my career and could've adopted that into my meeting game."

Harbaugh, who tucks a black sweatshirt into khakis, is known for his own eccentricities. And his friendship with Lloyd - "the kind of guy I connect with" - has sent a message to the team that such bizarre, football-inspired behavior is OK.

"I think he's a great guy to have around," wide receiver Anquan Boldin said. "We love having him in the meeting room. He definitely makes everything live. I think he fits in here."

Lloyd also meshes with a wide-receiver corps that includes Boldin, Michael Crabtree and Stevie Johnson. The NFL leader in receiving yards in 2010, Lloyd is one of 18 wideouts to collect more than 1,440 yards in a season since 2000. In 2012, he had 74 catches for 911 yards with the Patriots.

"Honestly, it doesn't look like he took a year off," Boldin said. "I think that's the biggest thing we see as receivers: how smooth he is, getting in and out of his cuts."

Lloyd has been a favorite target of Colin Kaepernick during the spring and summer. Why? He gets open.

"He has pretty easy body language to read and for the most part, normally, he's open by a step or two," Kaepernick said. "So that makes it a lot easier, too."

Meeting with the media Wednesday, Lloyd was occasionally charming, but he didn't always make it easy.

Asked if the vocal leadership he has seen from Kaepernick was reminiscent of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, he said: "I don't remember."

How has he maintained his speed? "I don't know," he said. "I don't know what you're talking about."

What did he think about Levi's Stadium? "I don't have an opinion."

Yes, he's different. But he has landed in a spot where eccentricities are embraced by a head coach who didn't blink when he first saw Lloyd running meeting-room routes.